Wesley Hayden The Hero In Montana 1948 By Larry Watson

A hero is not always a likable person, but is always someone who does their best to make sure justice is meted out. While there are many types of heroes, ranging from classic heroes like Harry Potter, who prevents an unscrupulous villain from ruling the world, to accidental heroes such as Percy Jackson, who is thrusted into a world of myths and monsters and left to fend for himself. As neither a classic nor an accidental hero, a silent man hero is the best way to describe Wesley Hayden from Montana 1948, by Larry Watson; a novel in which Wesley Hayden has to arrest his own brother for crimes such as sexual assault, rape, and murder. Wesley Hayden displays the traits and tendencies commonly attributed to silent man heroes: saying little, doing

After Gail tells him that Frank has been raping and molesting Native American girls, David finds Wesley quietly talking to Ollie Young Bear, a Native American who is greatly respected by the white community in their town: “I knew my father was asking Ollie if he had heard anything about Uncle Frank molesting Indian girls. Was he asking the right man? I wondered” (50). Even though Wesley may not have chosen the best person to talk to, his motivations were heroic. He was trying to investigate his brother’s crimes while keeping quiet and trying to to trouble the entire town. While this must have been difficult for him, he did what needed to be done. In addition to talking to Ollie about his brother’s crimes, Wes had to interrogate Marie, the Native American girl who originally accused Frank of his crimes. When Gail asks if she can stay with Marie during the interrogation to make her feel more comfortable, Wesley insists that she stay outside. She argues that there may be some way that she can help, but Wesley explains that “Some of this [he would] just as soon you didn’t hear” (53). This proves that Wesley is a hero because he is trying to keep this conversation quiet and without palaver or commotion. He is also doing what is necessary to protect his wife while continuing with the investigation. In addition to protecting his wife during the investigation, Wesley also allowed

For instance, Wesley arrests Frank even though he knows it will anger his father: “Is this why I gave you that goddamn badge? So you could arrest your own brother?” (112). While Wesley is getting reprimanded for doing the right thing simply because his father sees it as unjust, Wesley stays silent and lets his father express all of his feelings. After his father is done, Wesley does not perturb and does what he needs to do: tells his father that Frank murdered Marie. In addition to dealing with the consequences of his father’s reaction after arresting Frank, Wesley also has to handle his father sending armed men to his home to try to help Frank escape. When he found out that Len, his neighbor and the deputy sheriff, Gail, and David had to defend themselves and his home against the armed men, Wesley simply makes sure that everyone is okay and moves on: “Without taking [Wesley’s] attention from Len, [he] walked over to [David] and gently, wordlessly, took his shotgun from [him]” (135). Wesley handles the situation in his usual heroic way: he is silent, does not create furor, and does what he feels is necessary, which in this case, is not worrying about the armed men and moving on with Frank’s prosecution. Finally, Wesley deals with the ultimate consequence of Frank’s arrest: Frank’s suicide. Instead of disabusing Frank’s and his family’s reputation, “it was decided not